I'm facing trouble changing it. Would you please help me solve the problem?
The headmaster said "why?"
Change the above sentence into indirect speech please.
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Hello, Zafor. Could you explain why you think << The headmaster said "Why?" >> (note the capitalisation) is a suitable string for conversion into 'indirect speech'? It's an odd sentence to start with; 'say' isn't a normal quotative verb for questions, drawing attention to the actual uttering when chosen. is he offering a possible solution to a crossword clue? // Unless there are arbitrary rules of conversion in play here, I'd use The headmaster asked why. informally and The headmaster asked us why we had .... (etc) in a formal register.– Edwin AshworthCommented Aug 20, 2021 at 10:49
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Actually i have taken it from a passage where it was written as - the student said, "We want to celebrate the victory of the national debate competition." The headmaster said, "Why?" then what would be the right answer - the headmaster asked why.is it?– Zafor AhmedCommented Aug 20, 2021 at 11:00
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Apologies for the embarrassing typo; sentence-initial 'is' should be 'Is', of course. // I've looked at the original {as far as I can see} exercise and would not be happy if my grandchildren were using material of such a standard to try to learn (British) English.– Edwin AshworthCommented Aug 20, 2021 at 11:05
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1 Answer
- The headmaster said, “Why?”
could be changed into
- The headmaster asked why.
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To improve the answer, you should add some explanation of why this is the appropriate indirect speech version.– KillingTimeCommented Aug 20, 2021 at 10:35